Ch 15 Notes
Immigrants
Old:
1800-1880
Northern
and Western
Protestant
Why
did they come? Escape political turmoil, religious freedom, escape poverty and
starvation, economic opportunity
Chinese-
to build railroads
New:
1880-1910
Southern
and Eastern
Roman
Catholic, Jewish or Orthodox Christians
Japanese- from
1893
1) identification
2)$30 cash 3)no criminal record 4)medical examination
Immigration
station in
Immigration
station in
Chinese
could be detained for weeks even months
Prison
like environment
Most
immigrants settled in cities and took low paying jobs
Benevolent
societies- helped immigrants to obtain jobs, healthcare and an education,
helped to build sense of community
Nativists:
Americans against immigration b/c they hurt the economy and were taking jobs away
from Americans
Chinese
immigration: 1879 CA law kept Chinese from getting state jobs and allowed
people to ban them from their communities
1882
Chinese Exclusion Act banned Chinese immigration for 10 years and kept Chinese
from becoming citizens
Japanese-
1906 required separate schools for Japanese children which enraged the Japanese
government
Gentleman’s
Agreement:
Literacy
tests were also used to keep immigrants out of the country
Others
wanted Americanization
Cities
Start to build UP due to Elisha
Otis’s invention of the safety elevator
Middle
class is moving out of city due to mass transit
Parks
are being built by people like Frederick Law Olmstead to keep some green in the
cities
Gilded
Age: like fake gold
Differences
between rich, middle and working class
Settlement
house: taught immigrants skills (example: Hull House in
Social
Gospel: religious faith expressed through good works
Political
Machines: professional politicians who controlled local government
Helped
immigrants and poor in return for votes
Corruption:
bought voter support, election fraud,
graft:
using position to gain money and power
Most famous:
Tammany Hall in NYC
Boss
-$13 million for new courthouse which was more than
double the actual cost
convicted
for fraud and extortion, died in NYC jail
Thomas
Nast: political cartoonist who attacked
President
U.S. Grant’s Scandals
Credit
Mobilier: Union Pacific setup construction company
Credit Mobilier and overcharged the government by $23
million and had given stock to Congress and Vice President to keep them quiet
Whiskey
Ring: liquor taxes diverted to private hands and Grant’s private secretary was
involved
President
Hayes wanted to reform the spoils system: which was the practice of filling
government jobs with supporters or friends
In
response to Hayes the Republicans chose James A. Garfield for president
Four months into his term he was shot
and died in September
He was shot by Charles Guiteau (guh-toh) who though this
would help the cause
Charles A. Arthur became President and
turned against the spoils system
-passed the Pendleton Civil
Service Act: promotions based on merit not connections
Populists
Farmers
having hard time making ends meet so they organized themselves
National
Grange: 1st major farmers’ organization
Formed by Oliver
Hudson as a social group
1874 shifted
toward fighting for political reform
targeted railroads and grain elevators
eventually led to the passage of the Interstate Commerce Act
(1897)
Interstate
Commerce Act (1897): make railroad rates fair for all customers by requiring
states to be “reasonable and just”, could not give breaks to bigger companies,
could not charge more for short hauls, formed the Interstate Commerce
Commission (ICC) to oversee the railroads
Farmers
wanted the government to use silver as well as gold to back up the paper money
being printed but the government chose the gold standard with lessened the
amount of money in circulation
-the farmers voted for anyone who
would stand by the silver standard, 40 of
these won seats in Congress and four won
governorships
They formed the People’s party or the Populist
Party
-Called
for income tax, bank regulation, government ownership of railroad and telegraph companies, and unlimited coinage
of silver
Panic
of 1893: economic depression led to people pulling their money out of the stock
market and businesses were collapsing
President
Cleveland asked Congress to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890
which stated you could exchange paper money for gold or silver
Election
of 1896: McKinley (gold) v.
Discrimination
Poll
taxes and literacy tests kept many African Americans from voting
Grandfather
clauses: a white man could vote if he, his father or his grandfather had been
eligible to vote before
Jim
Crow Laws: laws discriminating against African Americans
TN
1881: required separate railway cars for African Americans and whites
1883
Supreme Court ruled that the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was unconstitutional
Plessy v
Ferguson Supreme Court case dealing with the
-ruling was separate but equal facilities
did not violate the 14th amendment
-allowed segregation to continue
African
Americans were supposed to “know their place”
-some were lynched which is the murder of
an individual without a trial (usually done by hanging)
Booker
T. Washington
-born
into slavery
-should
accept segregation for the moment
-acquire
farming and vocational skills
-founded
Tuskegee Institute in
W.E.B
De Bois
-Harvard
trained professor
-spoke
out against prejudice
-